


Learning the Ropes

by bibliophilicboo



Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: Bondage, Erotica, F/M, Light BDSM, Rope Bondage
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-11
Updated: 2018-01-23
Packaged: 2018-06-07 20:37:02
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,471
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6823075
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bibliophilicboo/pseuds/bibliophilicboo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Spencer Reid survived capture and torture at the hands of a serial killer. Now he wants help getting over his fear of ropes and a dominatrix is just the ticket.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

“Did you know the average rope thickness is 9.8 to 10.2 millimeters in diameter?” Spencer sat the piece of rope down and picked up another length of silk cord. “Although that’s climbing thickness I’m not sure of the preferred diameter for tying up a human being. Some prefer 8.9 to 10.7 millimeters. This looks to be about 7.8.”

I could only smile at the statistics that rattled from his mouth as his adrenaline climbed. He came to me for one purpose alone and that was to help with his fear of being tied up. After his own ordeal and seeing monster after monster hurt other humans he wanted a positive experience to weight against all that negative. Simply looking at him as he walked in the door I was sold.

Now I let him peruse the tools, get comfortable in the silk and velvet space I liked to call a dungeon. He pressed his beautiful lips together as he ran an index finger over the tendrils of a leather flogger hanging on the wall.

“Why don’t you get comfortable, Dr. Reid?” I said, standing and stalking toward him.

To his credit he didn’t back away, simply watched me come closer until only a few inches separated us. I smiled and tried not to make it look predatory. He looked like the kind of man who needed a little sweetness in his life. Too bad he came to me, I had been called damaging, relentless, sexy, but never sweet.

This man spelled buttoned up from the tips of his black converse the neatly knotted tie at this throat. I reached out slowly, so as to not scare him off, and lifted the hem of his sweater vest. In normal circumstances a man in a sweater vest would be laughed out of this place but something in his eyes compelled me to let him in.

I glanced up to meet his deep brown eyes and his face lay lifeless and indifferent. That wouldn’t do.

I pulled the sweater up and he lifted his arms to allow its removal. “Dr. Reid you’re going to have to work with me here.”

He picked up the sweater from the floor and deposited it on the nearby empty table.

“I was under the impression you were in control.”

I smiled. “To be honest, that is what everyone thinks but it’s false. You’re in control. I may restrict you, inflict pain, but it will only be because you want it.”

His voice took on a smoky register I hadn’t heard before but felt all the way to my belly. “What if I don’t want pain.”

“Then you have to tell me what you do want so I can give it to you.”

“Shouldn’t you know.”

I circled him, looking my fill. He was tall, thin, and lanky with long arms and long legs. Not my usual type but I’d already made so many exceptions for him. As I thought many did.

I gripped his hand on my final circle and led him to the couch opposite. It was red and pin-tucked like a Victorian settee and we both fit comfortably on its length.

“Dr Reid, you’re safe here. I want you to be comfortable. I can’t do anything while you expect the worst at every turn.”

He met my eyes this time and I waited for his resignation. It would come. It always did.

When I caught it. I pounced. Gently I let his hand go and climbed across his lap to straddle him. Even sitting I had to look up at his chin. He tentatively reached out and grasped my hips just above the bottom of my corset. The poor man had no idea what to do but the longer we sat the more excited I grew to educate him.

I pressed up on my knees to align my mouth with his ear. “You have any more statistics for me?”

“I have others but something tells me this isn’t the time for them.” His words caressed my neck sending a shiver through me.

I scooted up and pressed my belly and breasts along his chest as I reached behind for a length of silk cord. When I pulled the red piece between us he stiffened between my thighs and his eyes went a little wild.

I grasped his hands with my own entwining the length between us as I leaned down and pressed my lips in a feather’s caress against his. He didn’t flinch so I pressed further until I felt his hands grip mine hard.

With an exhale I released him and looked into those beautiful eyes again. He breathing had evened out and he no longer resembled a wild animal caught in a trap.

“I’m going to bind your hands only, right here, between us.”

He nodded and pressed his lips together again. I threaded the rope through my fingers and expertly tied a quick loop and knot around his hands. I’d be able to release it in seconds if he became too afraid. He didn’t move only watched as I bound him.

After I tightened the knot he fisted his hands and stared down at them. After a moment, he flexed his fingers and wrists testing the bonds.

“I’m the best at knots.”

“Very proficient.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment.”

I shifted across his lap and felt the press of his erection against my thigh. That was definitely something I could work with.

“Are you responsive to the domination or me?”

He met my eyes and exhaled slowly before answering, “both.”

“Do you feel safe with me.”

“Strangely, yes. I do.”

I smiled at his praise. “Good.”

“What’s next?” he whispered, biting his lower lip.

“So eager now Dr. Reid.” Definitely better than the timid and scared man who visited me to set the appointment.

“You should probably call me Spencer given the details of our arrangement.”

I chuckled. “You can call me Mistress.”

The corner of his mouth curled up. Something told me he would try not to call me that. In all reality, he likely knew my real name, measurements, address, and where I attended college already.

Something in me wanted to push it though. I leaned up and reached behind the couch to find a soft cane lined along the seam of the couch. I gripped it until the leather creaked and sat back down on his lap making sure to rub along the generous length of him. “What’s my name, Spencer?”

He pressed his lips together and met my eyes. Oh, this was going to be fun.

I brought the end of the cane down and snapped it against the outside of his thigh. He gasped and glanced down to where the leather met his khaki pants. It wouldn’t have given him anything more than a light sting through the material. The surprise in his eyes made it worth it.

I leaned forward until our lips were separated by an inch. “What’s my name, Spencer?”

He wanted to kiss me and answer me and fight me all at once. It was all there in his eyes. His exhale caressed my lips but he said nothing.

I snapped the cane again, but this time, he didn’t move or speak.

“You want to play games then. I have those.”

I pushed against his chest giving myself leverage to climb off his lap. He stayed but after a moment, I gripped the rope binding his hands and pulled him to his feet.

He followed, watching everything, no doubt analyzing everything.

Once I led him to a pole in the center of the room outfitted with a hook near the top I stopped him. “You need to shut down your brain and live in how everything feels.”

“I can’t do both?”

“I don’t know, can you?”

He lifted his arms so I could secure the rope. I should have punished him for his impertinence but I didn’t. Plenty of time for that later.

Once I tied him off he tested the give but didn’t move the knot. I left him to peruse my tools trying to decide on the next step. I’d have to be gentle with this one. His voice interrupted the budding fantasies in my mind.

“According to The Journal of Sexual Medicine, only 1.8% of sexually active adults reported involvment in some form of BDSM in the past year.”

I turned back to him and watched as he stared at the rope above his head.

“Fascinating, Doctor.”

“Spencer,” he said looking back down at me. I stalked toward him and he watched, his Adam’s apple bobbing as he swallowed. I gripped the ends of the rope in his hands waiting for my next attack.

“I’m not going to hurt you.”

“What are you going to do to me?”

I caressed his knuckles, white against the red. “What do you want me to do to you?”

We discussed his previous experiences being tied up and they were gruesome and painful. I didn’t want to to cause him pain or scare him. I wanted to give him a memory. Something that would make him smile if he ever had to feel the abrasion of rope against his skin in the future.

I trailed my hands down his forearms and entwined my fingers into his hair, long and curling against the stiff collar of his white shirt.

More than anything I wanted to feel his bare skin against mine and by the press of his erection against his zipper he wouldn’t mind that. I smiled up at him before gripping his belt buckle and unfastening the metal. Once I pulled the belt free with a zip I attacked the top button and zipper. He didn’t make a sound while I crouched to remove his shoes, socks, and then pulled off his pants.

Now in his black boxer briefs, a button down, and tie he looked almost like a little boy. Innocent and corruptible.

“Is it your turn now?” he asked, turning his toes in probably in an attempt to protect them against the chilly hardwood.

“Do you want to see me naked?”

Some people wanted the fantasy of me looming over them clothed and dominant while they lay naked and exposed. Dr Reid didn’t want that. He didn’t even want the real kink of BDSM. He wanted the therapy that sometimes went along with it. I lived to give my clients exactly what they wanted and the usual treatment wouldn’t be sufficient for such an extraordinary man.

I stood up and pulled the knot loose releasing him from the hook and then his hands from the rope.

“If you want me naked you’ll have to undress me.”

He didn’t move for a minute and I could practically see the thoughts chasing each other behind his expressive eyes. I gripped his hands and gently placed them at the top hook and eye of my corset. It didn’t take any coercion, he deftly released the rows of hooks and spread the leather open. He placed the corset on the floor gently and ran his hands up my waist, massaging the pink marks the boning left imprinted along my skin.

“Is it uncomfortable?”

“The corset? No. I’ve gotten used to it.”

He trailed his thumbs over the bottom of my ribs. “I can feel where it’s beginning to shape your ribcage.”

I laughed. “It looks nice when it’s on, though.”

He swallowed and his pupils dilated. His eyes trailed down to my black silk panties and garter belt connecting the fishnets.

“If you want more you’re going to have to buy my clothes with yours.”

He released my waist and loosened the tie at his neck with a jerk of the material. It only took minutes for him to unbutton his shirt and drop them all on a nearby chair. After he stopped moving I started my own stripping but did it with a little more flare. It was a game to me, watching the arousal of my clients grow with every step of my seduction. Just because Dr. Reid’s was a little gentler than most didn’t mean he wouldn’t get the full treatment.

After I slipped out of my heels and rolled down my stockings he had a little more height on me. I reached out and gripped his hand in my own leading him to a bed in the corner of the room.

“Um...how sanitary is this?” He asked looking over the silk sheets.

“I assure you this room is sanitized after every single client.”

He still looked dubious so I hopped up into the bed and after a moment, he folded onto the bed leading with a knee.

“Tell me, Spencer, are you a virgin?”

He shifted on the bed and answered in a stutter, “I find the term virgin to be subjective.”

I laughed and scooted over to him so I could touch him. He had a light dusting of hair around his nipples and a trail from his belly button into his underwear.

“Well then, we will have to get detailed.” I ran my fingers down his taut belly. “Have you ever had sex?”

“Intercourse, well, I, no.”

“And have you ever had oral sex?”

He shifted as I trailed my hands back up to flick across a nipple. It stiffened under my ministrations. “No.”

“And have you ever jerked yourself off?”

He swallowed and nodded.

“Nothing to be ashamed about. We’re all adults here.”

I’d have to spend time relaxing him again. This felt more like an interrogation than a seduction. I climbed off the bed and grabbed the red rope, trailing it behind as I approached. He put his hands in front of him, wrists together, fists clenched.

“You’re learning quickly.”

I looped the rope around secured it in a knot before joining him on the bed again.

“Tell me, Doctor, what have you learned about me? I know you do your research.”

He cleared his throat and flexed his wrists against the bonds. “Your real name is Madison Anson, you have a clean criminal history, no drug use, and according to certain records, you never sleep with your clients. You have a master’s degree in psychology but choose to practice alternative forms of therapy.”

“Is that why you came to me, Spencer? Because I’m not the usual dominatrix you can find in the yellow pages.”

“There aren’t any in the yellow pages.”

“Did you check?”

“No, but I read the phone book.”

“Of course, you did.”

I shook my head and smiled and the corner of his mouth tipped up in a grin. This man would be the death of me. Everything he said was true, in fact, which made him sitting mostly naked in front of me even more difficult to endure.

“Do you know why I don’t sleep with my clients, Spencer?”

“I assume it’s to protect yourself from sexually transmitted diseases and to combat the stigma of a sex worker.”

He had me there. “That is partially true but also because what I do is about control. And when I have sex there is nothing in control about it.”

He glanced around the room. “You do like control. I saw it in your carefully maintained bank records and files. You enjoy being in control but not for control’s sake. You have an image to protect.”

I pulled the ends of the rope with a jerk, tightening the bonds around his wrists. He no longer had any flex left. “Are you ready to move on to the next step?”

He swallowed and gave me a nod. The scared look he arrived with was now gone and in its place a man at the hands of a woman and nothing more.

I grabbed a piece of black rope, thicker than the red, and pushed him over to his back. He didn’t fight only moved his legs around so I could throw my legs across his calves. As I tied him at the ankles he didn’t move until I finished. Afterward, he tested the bonds the same way he’d done with his hands.

“How’s that, Dr?”

“I’m not sure how to answer that.”

“Mistress,” I responded. This was going to be a point of contention between us.

He didn’t repeat it.

“Is there something else you’d like to call me? Goddess perhaps?”

“How about Madison?”

“The name is part of the control. It’s not the same if you call me by my real name.”

“I don’t believe anything about this is the same as any other form of ... treatment.”

Another point to him.

I flipped to my knees so I straddled him on either side before I crawled up his body putting my face even with his, his hands pressing into my lower belly.

“Stop talking Dr. Reid.”

He swallowed but complied.

I flipped over so my hips lay along the length of his body and my thigh lay across his erection. Gently I moved my thigh ever so slightly and he made a noise that shot through me like an electric current.

I lifted my chin so he could hear me and my breathing patterns I took as I spoke to him. “Relax now Dr. We are going to play a little game.”

“What sort of game?”

I swirled my finger around one nipple while I spoke. “We are going to see how long you can resist coming.”

“I don’t think--”

I pressed my hand to his lips. “Shhhh...” He closed his mouth and I pushed my naked breasts against his arm. I wanted him to be able to feel every warm inch of my skin against his. I flexed my thigh against him again and he shifted.

“Now. Let’s test my skills, shall we. I want you to close your eyes and remember opening my corset only a short time ago.”

His breathing evened and out and I could hear the creak of the rope as he stretched it, pushing it, as leverage against the onslaught of sexual energy that came from a vision like that.

“Am I the first woman you’ve ever undressed, Spencer?”

He whispered, “yes.”

I flexed my thigh again drawing it up and back down enough to create just enough friction across his cock.

I wanted so much more than this but I wasn’t here for my own pleasure. Only his.

He was hard against my thigh but he’d need more than just my words to get him off. I shifted my weight and straddled him again, aligning my core right on top of his. His eyes popped open and he looked up at me. As I grabbed his hands and pushed them over his head he stared down the line of my body and licked his lips. I secured the rope to the bed and sat back down on him with a shimmy that made him crack a smile.

I slid my hips down so my heat aligned with his in all the right places. He let out a satisfying exhale that only added to my own arousal.

I performed the movement again and his time he dipped his hips up to meet mine. He was a very fast learner. He leaned up, despite his hands being tied, and I obliged him with a short hard kiss before releasing him again. I rode him hard for a minute, taking joy in the sounds bubbling up from his chest. I would be close to my own orgasm soon if he didn’t come. I tightened my thighs against his hips and moved again but I didn’t get far before I felt his hands on my on ass pulling up the length of him.

The naughty man had somehow gotten free of my knots. Which took a lot of skill.

I pressed my hand to his chest, stopping him. “How did you get out of that?”

He sat up and pulled me in for a long kiss. His tongue cut through my mouth and entwined with mine and I lost myself there. Wrapped in his arms, his cock only separated from me by tiny pieces of cotton and silk. I entwined my fingers in his hair and pressed in harder before pulling away with a bite to his bottom lip. He stayed sitting and I altered the angle of my hips for him. He squeezed my ass and pressed me into him, effectively gaining control of the situation. I’d allow it. This one time.

He moved me all on his own, those strong hands pushing and pulling my hips until he began to pant. Once he dropped his forehead to my collarbone and groaned I knew he’d finished. I let him stay there to catch his breath. My body felt like a piano wire stretched tight across the wood. I was so close to my own orgasm I dared not move for setting it off.

He must have felt the tension in my body because he reached a hand between us cupped all of me before dragging his fingers over up and back down. It wasn’t skilled but I was so close it didn’t matter. I fell over the edge gripping his shoulders and biting my lip to stop the noises I knew I’d make.

Once I came back down I met his eyes and they were filled with something. Not wonder exactly but a new awareness for the human body.

“How was your first orgasm with a woman, Dr. Reid?” I whispered pushing the wild tendrils of his hair behind his ears.

“I’m not sure, exactly. It wasn’t what I expected and yet I feel oddly satisfied.”

I could only smile at that. I released him and untied his ankles before moving up to inspect the knot at the top of the bed. The one I hadn’t even realized he’d released.

“How did you get out?”

He laughed. “I believe I’ll leave that to your own deductions.”

He’d definitely untied it somehow but I was the best at knots and shibari in the city.

I pulled the rope from the headboard and handed it to him. “A souvenir.”

He looked down at the rope and back at me, his forehead wrinkled in confusion.

“To go with all the books I’m sure you read this week about knots, ropes, and bondage.”

A blush suffused his cheeks and it made me laugh.

Such a sweet innocent man. I leaned forward and bit him hard on the shoulder. He gasped aloud and I leaned back to look at his face. There was no denying the look there.

“Next time we’ll try a little pain. You’ll like it.” 


	2. To be Continued

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dr. Reid hasn't seen me in years. And his return is not about a rope phobia. Something bigger haunts my dreamy eyed detective. I'll do anything to take that worn-down look from his eyes.

A knock at my door wasn’t unusual. I lived in a town with more girl scouts than trees. The unusual part was the time. Not many knocks before nine a.m. The sun had barely started to reach my bedroom windows.

I finished brushing my teeth and rinsed. The knock came again, more urgent. I jogged down the stairs and opened the door.

He stood with this back to me, but I’d recognize that long lean frame, unruly hair, and cardigan anywhere. When he turned around I got a jolt meeting his eyes. While he appeared the same, the years hadn’t been kind to him. Not that he looked older, just more...used, tired, drained.

“Hello, Madison. It’s good to see you again.”

I stood in my doorway in nothing but a pink cotton t-shirt barely brushing mid-thigh, my hair was still a curly mess as I’d yet to tame it for the morning, no makeup. I usually didn’t feel naked around men, my outfits and tools providing the armor I needed to face a stranger in such an intimate setting. But now, under his gaze I felt bare, stripped completely. I folded my arms over my breasts and hunched in the best I could. “Spencer, what are you doing here?”

We only saw each other for one session, years ago now, but I remembered him. And his pain. Something that seemed magnified.

“It wasn’t hard to find you.”

“Well, I’d imagine, but it’s probably not good to use that information outside of a criminal investigation.” My own psychology training kicking in, bringing back into focus years of therapy I’d been trying to forget.

“I looked for you at your old offices but they were empty. My friend Penelope helped me track you down. I also read your practice was shut down.”

I ducked my chin, shame riding up my neck in a way he wouldn’t be able to ignore. “It happens when you live in a bible thumping town. No room for gray areas.”

“And what do you do now?”

“I work as a therapist for an online therapy center.”

He raised an eyebrow and his lips thinned in a smirk.

“Traditional therapy, just conducted over the internet.” It didn’t escape me that even after all these years he tracked me, of all people, to a new town, new house.

“What can I do for you, Dr. Reid?”

“Spencer,” he corrected, immediately. I noted the compulsion but didn’t push.

He didn’t drop his gaze, as I expected him to, when he answered. “I need your services.”

“My services as what? A therapist? A dominatrix? A whore?”

His forehead curled up and he gave me a penetrating stare. “You don’t think you’re a whore. I don’t either.”

“Well, at least there are some of us who don’t.” I smiled and stepped back so he could enter. His coat brushed my arm as he stepped inside and immediately began a study of my entryway and his eyes grazed every surface. I could almost feel him sucking in the data analyzing it in his head.

“What seems to be the problem, Doctor?” I asked, letting him look around and peer at things strangely close.

When he finally turned back he said, “Spencer.”

I waited. I worked the night shift usually so I had no demands on my time except a tall lanky FBI agent who seemed to have developed a fondness for dominance and submission.

“I know it might seem strange, my being here, but I read an article recently that reminded me of you. I’ve had a tough time lately and I thought maybe you could help, in the same way you did before,” He reached into his pocket and pulled a length of red rope from it’s recesses. The silk was worn and frayed in some areas.

He tucked it away and I looked him over. I’d seen his legal troubles on the news and watched the case closely when I could. I never believed for a second that he could be guilty. Even if I saw him standing over a dead body I’d have doubts. He had a gentle soul I’d yet to unravel.

“Are you afraid of ropes again?”

He swallowed and I watched his Adam’s apple bob heavily in his throat. Not the ropes, something worse. “I fear...” his voice came out so soft I barely heard him. “Women.”

“Like as a gender or...”

He turned away and if the distancing helped I’d allow it for now.

“There were parts to my ordeals I can’t discuss. Classified things that weren’t put in the news. I can’t talk about them either. But I thought I could come here and you’d have some explanation and way to help me.”

He faced me again. “I trust you.”

“What if I’ve become some criminal mastermind in the years we haven’t seen each other.”

“Have you?”

I let out a short laugh and threw my hands in the air. “Fine. I’ll do what I can.” I gestured to the dining room and he peered in, confused. I pointed around the corner and he spotted the door tucked next to the refrigerator.

“I have a lot of cases that begin this way.”

“Go, before I change my mind.”

He stepped carefully and slow, like he waited for a man with a chainsaw to pop out any second. Once he reached the door I followed and waited while he turned the knob, opened the door, and flipped on the light.

“What’s down there?”

“Go look.”

He took the steps quickly and I rushed to keep up, he had some height on me. When he stepped onto the carpet he removed his sneakers, black converse, and let them thump onto the bottom stairs.

“I thought you said you didn’t practice anymore?”

I skirted him and hopped up onto the white sheets. “I don’t. But I’m not only about the human mind. I enjoy playing too. I don’t take clients anymore, everything down here is for fun.”

He peered around, the black cork board where an array of rope hung, the black carpet, and black hooks set into the walls to hold more tools. It took him a moment but he came over and sat beside me on the bed. 

I reached out to touch his cheek but he jerked away before I reached it. “What are you really afraid of, Spencer?”

He stayed silent for a moment, and I again, allowed him whatever time he needed. After the silence bordered on tension I took control. Maybe it was what he waited for?   
I pushed forward and curled my knees under so I could sit on them. His eyes tracked the movement before flashing up to meet mine. “Do you want to know what I think?”

Uncharacteristically he didn’t answer, just nodded.

“I don’t think it’s women you fear. It’s yourself.”

“How very Freudian.”

I chuckled and shifted closer. He tracked every twitch I made.

“Put your hands on me, Spencer.”

For not speaking his eyes trailing over every inch of my exposed and covered skin said a lot.

I reached out and took his hand, placing it in the curve of my waist. “You don’t have the dips into your ribcage from the corsetry anymore. It makes sense your body would release that shape and go back to the natural form.”

I took his other hand and placed it right on my breast. He sucked in a gust of air through his teeth and made to pull away. Not allowing, I trapped both of his hands under my own.

“Touch me.”

His haunted gaze pleaded with me to understand but I refused to give in. If he didn’t know what he needed then I was going to force him to see it.

“What do you feel? Talk to me.”

“Scared, aroused, wild.”

“Not unlike feelings men have when touching women for eons. Anything else?”

He blinked a few times and I wondered how he’d gotten around so long wearing his emotions so boldly for others’ to capture.

“Like I’m not in control anymore. I want things, I want to do things to you that make me feel ashamed.”

I could work with that. “Like what?”

His fingers tightened on both hands and I shifted one up and the other down mirroring how they were before on the opposing sides. My t-shirt rode up to show my belly.

“Tell me, Spencer. We are just talking here.”

“I want to hold you down, have sexual intercourse with you, and choke you.”

He said the last with his face turned away.

“I know you’ve read about dominance, submission, all of it before you saw me the first time. Did you read anything before you came here today?”

A quick shake of the head. 

“I’m sure you’ve read the American Psychiatric Association's’ Diagnostic and Statistical Manual. Erotic asphyxiation is known as a paraphilia.”

“A perversion,” he supplied.

“Doctor,” I scolded.

“Spencer.” He cleared his throat. “The term paraphilia originated with Krauss and combines Greek words.”

Not up to usual level of detail but I’d take it. I reached out and popped the buttons on his cardigan one by one. He didn’t stop me or remove his hands from my body. Once I got them all I shifted it off his shoulders until he had to remove it, and his jacket, the rest of the way. I took hold of his hands again and cupped them around the hem of my long t-shirt. He hesitated for a moment before lifting it off and placing it gently on the bed beside me.

The only clothes I now wore were the Captain America boy shorts I’d slipped on when I got out of bed. I worked the buttons of his shirt and loosened the tie. He took everything off the rest of the way until he sat on my bed in nothing more than gray boxer briefs.

“How do you feel now? The same?”

He nodded. “More intently. But I know choking you will only induce hypoxia. That isn’t a sexually arousing state.”

I pulled his hands to my neck. He resisted at first allowed me to place his fingers around my throat. He didn’t hold tightly at all, barely a brush of his skin against mine. 

“What you want is to take back control. The symbolization of choking someone is inherently a dominant position. What you want isn’t aligned with choking me, it’s aligned with you wanting to be in control of a woman.” I pushed his hands to his lap. “Go pick out a rope.”

He didn’t reply only hopped off the bed and grabbed a thin rope from a hook on the bottom rung. Braided black silk. When he came back I thrust my hands toward him and fingers curled in, palms and wrists together. He looped the rope over and tied it off, the same way I’d done for him years ago.

“You’re in control now,” I whispered. 

He felt it too. I could see the weight leaving his eyes. Some of the ghosts still lingered. I didn’t like that. I wanted a smile, something happy from him. Not this man who seemed broken down by time.

He pulled the rope in, captured the back of my neck, and kissed me. My heart skittered a few beats and my body responded before I’d even opened my mouth to him. It was a short kiss, a press of lips and tongue then release. 

Regardless, I felt it to my toes. I was supposed to be detached, but everything about this man mangled my thoughts. 

“I thought you prefered the dominant side of treatment.”

I met his eyes and shook my head. “I do whatever I feel like in the moment. The term in the world I live in is switch. I can switch between dominant and submissive at will. And this isn’t treatment. It’s a friend helping a friend.”

Another heavy swallow, his grip on the ropes loosened. 

Not wanting to lose ground I pressed. “What else do you want, Spencer?”

I could see the war going on in his mind. He wanted things, but he didn’t know how to ask for them, and he didn’t know how to take them either. I shifted back on the bed, rocking and he let the rope slip through his hands to give me enough slack. “Get up here.”

Another long silence before he climbed up on his knees and towered over me, rope still intertwining his fingers. “You said you wanted to hold me down. Take the rope and tie it to the hook above the headboard.”

He didn’t move. “If you are going to fight me on every move then why did you come here?”

That seemed to register. He shifted over to the headboard and I followed. He tied the rope off and I lay back on the pillows, arms overhead, belly, thighs, and underwear exposed to him.

“How do you feel now?”

A smirk flirted on his lips but disappeared in a flash. “A little like I’m in a therapy session.”

I laughed at that too, but waited for his real answer.

“I feel powerful. Aroused, curious. Still a little out of control.”

“There is nothing wrong with that feeling. Just because some part of you might feel...feral...doesn’t mean the second you give in to that part you’ll tear me to pieces.”

His hands shook. “That’s what I don’t seem to be relaying properly. I want to tear you to pieces. I want to bite you, scratch you, leave trails on your skin from my teeth and nails. It’s irrational.”

I shook my head. “Look at me, Spencer. Human passion is nothing to be ashamed of. You want to do these things because they are a mark of dominance. It’s animal nature not perversion. Me walking around with the brand of your mouth on my skin is declaring to the world that you had me, and in some cases it might mean that I belong to you. It the assertion of control not the release of psychopathy.”

He curled up beside me on the bed and I rolled to face him the best I could. All the innocent I’d seen in him at our first meeting had since been scrubbed away. He’d seen things and been through trauma. I could practically feel it creating a barrier between us.

“So stake your claim. Mark me however you want.”

“What if I hurt you?” He whispered.

I leaned out and bit his forearm and then kissed it. He moved closer watching me. I did the same on his shoulder, a hard bite followed by a kiss. His breathe hissed out. I followed the curve of his neck, he leaned in to me now, guiding me where he wanted me next. I bit the sit of his neck and then his earlobe.

When I retreated to the pillows he opened his eyes. “I see your point.”

He trailed his fingers down my belly to the top of my panties and stopped. Then back up.

“Harder,” I offered.

He shifted closer his front aligning with my hip as I lay flat on my back. He dug his fingers in slightly on his glide back up to the swell of my breasts. He paused for a second and then continued the trail over the top of one breast and nippe. I jerked under his hand and he froze.

“Don’t stop.” 

“Do you enjoy that?”

“You’re supposed to be the genius. You tell me.”

He leaned up and curled his fingers around my hip. “You do like that.”

“I like a lot of things. You could try something else if you like.”  _ Perhaps sex _ I supplied in my mind, but I didn’t say it out, not wanting to scare him off.

He leaned in and kept his eyes locked to mine as he bit my closest nipple. The wet heat of his mouth hit me first then slice of the pain from his teeth followed. I could already feel his erection growing against my hip bone. He was going to be a quick study.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading. This one is a little messier than usual, sorry for that. I only write it after a long rough day and Criminal Minds binge. You can read more from me, in a different setting, by checking out monicacorwin.com


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